资源说明：A short study on where the most popular US-based websites locate the searchbar in their view.
According to surveys, pundits, opinions and convention it should go in there somewhere at the top of a web view. Mobile apps also follow this pattern. I don't really have any other argument other than it's where everyone puts it and it's where users expect it to be. Good enough for me.
Let's see who in the Alexa [Top Sites in United States](http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/US) is following convention. I surveyed the top twenty-five websites and yielded the following results:
### Alexa 1 - 25
#### Top of the View Location: 72%
* top-left: 12% (3, 7, 16)
* top-left-center: 16% (1, 2, 5, 15)
* top-center: 16% (4, 13, 20, 25)
* top-right: 28% (6, 8, 10, 18, 21, 22, 23)
#### Nestled Among Content: 16%
* left-column: 8% (9, 24)
* center-column: 4% (14)
* right-column: 4% (17)
#### Nowhere: 12%
* didn't have one: 12% (11, 12, 19)
## Hint: It belongs at the top, preferably on the right side
I went a little further and scoped out the searchbar location for the [26-50 Top Sites in United States](http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries;1/US), mostly pr0n and Godaddy customers so I'll save you from the screencaps, and I learned a little more:
### Alexa 26 - 50
#### Top of the View Location: 64%
* top-left: 8% (34, 44)
* top-left-center: 8% (32, 41)
* top-center: 16% (35, 36, 40, 42)
* top-right: 32% (26, 27, 28, 33, 37, 38, 39, 50)
#### Nestled Among Content: 8%
* left-column: 0%
* center-column: 4% (45)
* right-column: 4% (29)
#### Nowhere: 28%
none: 28% (30, 31, 43, 46, 47, 48, 49)
Godaddy has two search bars. Please use [DNSimple](https://dnsimple.com/).
So to recap the Top 50 in toto, 68% had the searchbar located at the top of the view, 20% didn't have one or did not apply and only 12% had the searchbar nestled among the content somewhere.
Screencaps
==========
1. Google
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* Type: Search Engine
* Location: top-left-center
* Visibility: prominent; very much bread and butter
2. Facebook
-----------
* Type: Social Media Behemoth
* Location: top-left-center
* Visibility: cluttered; enhanced with dark-blue background
3. YouTube
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* Type: Low-brow Video Sharing
* Location: top-left
* Visibility: first among equals
4. Yahoo!
-----------
* Type: Adrift Media Conglomerate
* Location: top-center
* Visibility: cluttered but visible due to color-contrasting techniques
5. Amazon
-----------
* Type: King of Online Retail
* Location: top-left-center
* Visibility: suffering from fog of war
6. Wikipedia
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* Type: Killer of Encyclopedia Salesmen, Plagiarism Resource
* Location: top-right
* Visibility: fairly good when you can ignore Jimmy's face
7. eBay
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* Type: Retail Directory
* Location: top-left
* Visibility: confused and married to filter functionality
8. Twitter
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* Type: Thought Release Aggregator
* Location: top-right
* Visibility: prominent
9. Craigslist
------------
* Type: Directory of Everything
* Location: left-column
* Visibility: hidden, alone, neglected; doesn't compete with core-competent directory
10. LinkedIn
------------
* Type: Annoying Recruiter Network
* Location: top-right
* Visibility: cluttered and paired with filtering device
11. Blogger
------------
* Type: Something about Blogs
* Location: unknown
* Visibility: none
12. Windows Live
------------
* Type: No idea because I'm not signing up
* Location: n/a
* Visibility: looks like a SharePoint POS, probably is
13. MSN
------------
* Type: Yahoo! Without the Drama
* Location: top-center
* Visibility: very good
14. Go
------------
* Type: I have no idea
* Location: centered on page
* Visibility: prominent
15. Bing
------------
* Type: Redmond's Answer to Google
* Location: top-center-left
* Visibility: prominent
16. Pinterest
------------
* Type: Awesome Photo Discovery Service
* Location: top-left
* Visibility: high
17. Tumblr
------------
* Type: Highbrow Time Wasting for Hipsters
* Location: top-right-column
* Visibility: low
18. PayPal
------------
* Type: Awful Payment "Facilitator"
* Location: top-right
* Visibility: okay
19. t.co
------------
* Type: Twitter uses the t.co domain as part of a service to protect users from harmful activity, to provide value for the developer ecosystem, and as a quality signal for surfacing relevant, interesting Tweets. LOL.
* Location: unknown
* Visibility: none
20. AOL
------------
* Type: Oldskool Media
* Location: top-center
* Visibility: high
21. ESPN
------------
* Type: Worldwide Corporate Sports Propaganda Leader
* Location: top-right
* Visibility: very much so
22. CNN Interactive
------------
* Type: Online News Service
* Location: top-right
* Visibility: can't miss
23. Wordpress
------------
* Type: Blogging Platform
* Location: top-right
* Visibility: hidden; activated via icon click
24. Netflix
------------
* Type: Aging DVD Rental House
* Location: left
* Visibility: horrible, but they've never been good at it
25. The Huffington Post
------------
* Type: Seriously Shocking Headlines
* Location: top-center
* Visibility: low, cannot compete with the noise
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